okay so i passed my technician exam like two months ago and ive been reading through Part 97 trying to figure out exactly what im allowed to do and honestly its kind of a mess to read through. like i get the basics, no music, no obscene language, identify every 10 minutes, cool. but what im confused about is the HF privileges thing. i know techs get some HF access but every time i try to look it up i get a different answer depending on what website im on.

also my buddy told me i can use 10 meters for phone if i have a tech license but then someone else told me thats wrong and i need a general for that. we actually got into kind of an argument about it lol. can someone just point me to the actual rule or explain it simply because the FCC document itself is not exactly light reading

your buddy is half right and half wrong. technicians do get some 10m privileges but its limited to CW only in the 28.000-28.300 range, and then you get a small chunk for phone but only 28.300-28.500 MHz. so yes you can do phone on 10m as a tech but just that small slice. for basically everything else on HF you need at least a general. the ARRL website actually has a really clean frequency chart that breaks it all down by license class, way easier than staring at the actual Part 97 text. thats what i always send new guys to first.

and yeah Part 97 reads like a legal document because it basically is one. once you get your general you'll want to revisit it but for now just grab that ARRL band plan chart and keep it handy.

went through the exact same confusion when i got my tech last year lol. the 10m phone thing tripped me up too. i actually called into a local club net and asked and they cleared it up pretty fast. if you have a club nearby that does elmering or a local repeater with active users thats honestly the fastest way to get answers like this, sometimes the forums can go back and forth forever on stuff that a local guy can just explain in two minutes